Eq'ing tips and tricks

First off -this is no means anything close to being a complete write-up of how an equalizer works or really anything really technical, just a good tip on how to give a sound it's own space and make it stand out in the mix.

An instrument's sound is made up of a fundamental frequency, the musical note, and harmonics, what makes up the timbre. It is these harmonics that give the note its unique character.

Below you see a snapshot of an Logic Audio EQ with the analyzer activated, I am feeding a simple square wave into the EQ. I have used this simple sound so you can easily identify the fundamental frequency and the harmonics that make up the timbre of the sound.

The first thing people want to do when "looking" at the sound with the analyzer, is boost the highest peak frequency (fundamental frequency) of the sound, in the case of the example around 50hz. If you use EQ to boost the fundamental frequency, you are simply making the instrument louder, not enriching the timbre. Boosting the harmonic frequencies, on the other hand, boosts the instrument's tonal qualities, and gives it unique space in the mix. Increase at each harmonic band, not just a huge wide boost, small precise boosts of a db or so at each harmonic will yield good results. Remember there's no "magic' settings, every bit of source material is different and as such, each EQ setup will be specific and deliberate for that sound.

When EQing it's best to cut rather than boost frequencies. Boosting can lead to phasing problems. Phasing problems happen when waveforms get slightly out of alignment resulting in loss of clarity. To avoid boosting when EQing I tend to reduce the fundamental frequency by a few DB's with a sharp Q. This will allow the harmonics to be louder, increasing the complexity of the timbre.




Like I mentioned at the beginning, this is no means anything close to being a complete write-up on EQing, just some basic rules I follow to shape sound. The best advice is to use your ears, not your eyes, when trying to eq a sound.